Napa Vintner's Recycling Efforts Earn A+ Rating From State

RUTHERFORD—Beaulieu Vineyard, accustomed to earning gold, silver and bronze awards for its fine varietal wines, today was presented with a green award as one of California's Top 10 waste busters of 1996.

The California Integrated Waste Management Board presented the Napa Valley winery with one of its first annual Waste Reduction Award Program "WRAP of the Year" awards, recognizing BV for its leadership role in reducing and recycling waste instead of disposing it in landfills. In doing so, the company made approximately $52,000 from the sale of recyclable goods and old wine barrels and avoided $10,000 in landfill disposal costs in 1996.

"It is a pleasure to convey the Waste Board's appreciation for BV's outstanding waste reduction efforts," said Waste Board Member Janet Gotch, a Napa Valley resident. "Efforts like this prove that more and more California businesses are joining the recycling bandwagon because it makes good economic sense and helps the environment. That growing effort is essential if California is to achieve its mandated goal of diverting half the state's trash by the year 2000."

Gotch noted that businesses generate half the state's waste.

In the wine-making business since 1900, Beaulieu produces 600,000 cases of wine annually. The company recycles paper, glass, cardboard, wood barrels, corks, and crushed grape pulp, called pomace. Moreover, the winery donates excess materials to winemaking students and senior and handicapped programs. The Napa County vintner also provides wooden bins for earthworm farming, a method using worms to produce compost soil amendments from organic materials; substantially reduced the amount of packaging materials it uses; and shares its recycling expertise with other wineries. A member of the California Enological Research Association's Recycling Committee, the Napa Valley company credits its employees with a large measure of its success.

Gotch noted that BV has a long track record of recycling. The company has earned four WRAP awards before being singled out this year with the new honor as well.

Since its inception in 1993, WRAP has awarded more than 1,000 certificates to approximately 700 California businesses whose efforts have substantially contributed to reducing waste in the State. Besides generating and handling fewer excess materials, many companies find they can cut waste disposal costs and boost profit margins through successful recycling programs.

The Waste Board's WRAP certificates can be displayed and used by businesses to publicly advertise their recycling activities and conservation ethics, something more and more conscientious shoppers apparently appreciate. California's business sector is estimated to generate more than half of the state's waste stream.

For more information on WRAP, click here.

The six-member Integrated Waste Management Board is responsible for protecting the public's health and safety and the environment through management of the 45 million tons of solid waste generated in California each year. The Board's mandate is to work in partnership with local government, industry, and the public to achieve a 50 percent reduction in waste disposed by the year 2000, while ensuring environmentally safe landfill disposal capacity.

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